State Medical Board Is Too Slow

When doctors are accused of making medical errors or breaking the law, the investigations into such claims must be more than impartial and thorough. They must be timely.

That's not the case here. In Connecticut, our antiquated physician disciplinary system often involves lengthy delays before decisions are reached; that doesn't help doctors or patients. Justice delayed is indeed justice denied. Changes are needed, and some are underway.

As reported recently in The Courant by Connecticut Health Investigative team writers Colleen McKown and Lisa Chedekel, investigating a case can take two years or longer — sometimes up to four years. In the meantime, the doctor under investigation continues to practice, and patients are often unaware of the probe.

Connecticut's Medical Examining Board, two-thirds of whom are volunteer doctors and the rest lay citizens, is charged with looking into complaints about physicians. But it doesn't have its own investigators or lawyers; it must use those in the state Department of Public Health, which must assist more than a dozen other licensing boards.

Ways to improve the medical discipline system in Connecticut were outlined in a 2011 report commissioned by the DPH. Some of its recommendations have already been implemented; for instance, online and paper renewal forms for doctors have been updated to solicit additional consultants needed to provide expert review of a case. That's a step in the right direction.

The department says it is also looking into ways that the principles of the process known as "lean production" may be applied to streamline the investigation process.

The Public Citizen Health Care Research Group, which looks at medical boards nationwide and ranks Connecticut's fairly low, suggests that ours be fully funded directly from physician license fees, as happens in most other states. Here, the fees go to the state's general fund.

In this tight economy, it will be difficult to persuade lawmakers to redirect any revenue, but the idea is worth considering.

With its roots going back to 1792, Connecticut's state medical board is among the oldest in the country, but that's no reason to stand pat. When it comes to medical investigations, we need to make sure that having a long history doesn't just mean "old-fashioned."